Pruning Rose Bushes

Learn How To Prune Roses In A Few Easy Steps

Pruning Rose Bushes is not rocket science! Instructions for pruning, deadheading
roses and when to prune roses. A rose pruning 101.
Learn how to cut roses for maximum flowers and health.

Pruning rose bushes seems like a daunting task for the inexperienced
gardener. The reason for this might be that some people make it sound
difficult and
mysterious.

Trimming roses though is not that difficult and can be learned by anybody! This rose pruning 101 will help you with this job.

Why do you have to trim roses?

Cutting back encourages new growth and healthy new shoots that will
produce lots of new flowers. The old branches eventually die and can
harbor pests and
diseases if they are not removed. A good trim encourages an open bush with a nice shape.

Sometimes you might be restricted in space and have to keep the size of
the bush down by pruning. Pruning rose bushes plays an important part in
good
rose care.

What You Need For Pruning Rose Bushes

A good, sharp pair of secateurs

A pair of gloves

Long-handled pruners for thick stems

When To Prune Roses

The best time for trimming most types of roses is late winter or early
spring. The time varies with the local climate and the exposure of the
garden. In mild
places this can be as early as February or late March in cold regions.
You know that the time is right when the buds are starting to show the
first signs
of growth.
Nearly all roses flower on the shoots that are produced during the
current season.

Exceptions to this rule are ramblers that flower on the wood produced in
the previous year. These are best pruned in late summer when finished
flowering.

Deadheading roses should be done during the flowering season to keep the plants producing flowers. Just cut off withered flowers with a couple of inches of their stems. This will help to keep theplant flowering longer and more abundant.

How To Prune Roses

The shoots of rose bushes have buds along the stems. Some of them face
outwards and some inwards. They usually alternate along the stem. Cut
the stem
above an outward facing bud to keep the bush open and to prevent
crossing branches in the middle of the bush.

Make a slightly sloping cut right above the bud. This will prevent water
from sitting on the cut for too long. If you cut too far away from the
bud the
part above the bud will die off. This looks ugly and can of course
harbor diseases again. Another mistake is to have the cut too close to
the bud which
will damage it or have the cut too slanted. This will leave an
unnecessarily big area for the plant to heal.

Instructions For Pruning Roses

Remove weak and thin shoots to encourage the strong shoots. Cut them back to where you see a healthy bud.

Step 3:

Remove shoots that grow into the wrong direction i.e. crossing each other or growing toward the center of the bush.

Step 4:

All branches that have flowered in the previous year need to be shortened down to a healthy bud on the main branch.

The rose used for the pictures below is a Flower Carpet standard rose but the
principles of pruning are the same as if you were pruning other rose
types.

Here is the sequence from the beginning to finish. This rose will
produce many flowers again this season as it did for many years
already...so don't
hesitate to prune roses hard. It is necessary from time to time!

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